(Bloomberg)-The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a very popular collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a status symbol coveted by celebrities, athletes and venture capitalists.
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According to blockchain data tracker CryptoSlam, Bored Apes is already the third most valuable collection of NFTs, with record sales of $ 1.5 billion. We have also unlocked early access to the new digital currency, ApeCoin.
ApeCoin was released on Thursday with a type of release called “AirDrop”. With this release, certain groups of crypto holders will automatically receive tokens as a reward. In this case, a billion ApeCoins were reduced and BoredApeNFT owners were lined up to receive some of the haul.
Coins give holders influence over a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or another crypto-native entity known as DAO. The idea was to reach out to the boring Ape community in shaping the vision of the Internet with decentralized blockchain, often described by venture capitalists as web3. Bored Ape DAO uses the blockchain to enable and record votes for decisions related to how the community is managed.
But together, ApeCoin and DAO have provided even more points for some of the toughest criticisms of venture capitalists’ influence and power in this evolving space.
Generally, the more tokens a participant has in a DAO, the more people say they have it for group governance. Venture capital investors who helped launch, such as Andreessen Horowitz and the Animoka brand, were also among the largest beneficiaries of ApeCoins. They and other launch partners received a total of 14%, or 140 million tokens, confirmed by a spokesman for Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, to Bloomberg.
Possession of these tokens could have a substantial impact on ApeCoin DAO for Andreessen Horowitz and Animoca, despite the fact that the groups are decentralized and certain entities are not controlled. It’s this kind of move that has brought VCs the wrath of people like Block CEO and Bitcoin enthusiast Jack Dorsey. He contended with Andreessen Horowitz’s Marc Andreessen and Chris Dickson on Twitter for a VC that was too influential on Web 3. However, many venture capitalists, including Andreessen, have delegated voting on DAO shares to organizations such as student clubs to weaken their influence.
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If Andreessen Horowitz and Animoca sell tokens and choose to weaken their influence on ApeCoin DAO, they can also make significant profits with what they receive for free. According to CoinMarketCap, ApeCoin’s price has fluctuated significantly since Thursday, at $ 14.36 as of Friday night, up 66% from the previous day. At this price, the amount of ApeCoin allocated to launch partners is worth more than $ 2 billion.
According to Pitchbook, the launch of ApeCoin is just a small example of how VC has been some of the biggest winners from the rise of cryptocurrencies after pouring a total of $ 32.5 billion into the industry in 2021. Even if Andreessen Horowitz sells ApeCoin, he is already involved in the creation of ApeCoin DAO.
There are other signs of concentration of power in the launch of ApeCoin. The four founders of Yuga Labs received a total of 8% of the released ApeCoins. As a company, Yuga Labs received 15% of airdrops. This corresponds to the total percentage given to the owner of the Bored Ape NFT or Mutant Apes that is part of the spin-off NFT collection. The charity Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation received 1% of the coins released. ApeCoin DAO’s Treasury received 47% of the drops.
This allocation also shows that Yuga Labs has a greater impact on NFT spaces. The company purchased the intellectual property of the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections from Larva Labs earlier this week. Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly considering investing in Yuga Labs, which rates startups between $ 4 billion and $ 5 billion, according to the Financial Times.
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ApeCoin DAO has a special council studded with stars that make DAO decisions, but this does not always fit well with the decentralized nature of cryptography. This includes crypto celebrities such as Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, founder of venture company Seven Seven Six, and Amy Wu, head of the venture division of FTX.
According to CoinMarketCap, the launch of ApeCoin, which recorded over $ 9.2 billion in trading volume in the 24 hours that ended Friday night in New York time, is similar to its public debut on the stock exchange, so regulatory concerns. May cause.
Aaron Brown, a crypto investor writing for the Bloomberg Opinion, said ApeCoinDAO is “a placeholder attempt to win potential business in the future under the Bored Ape brand name.”
“It’s close to a SPAC, the money raised today for some businesses that may be named later,” he said, without legal protection for the actual SPAC. “The project is managed by a small group of individuals.”
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